Is the American dream killing you? : how "the market" rules our lives

The "market" is the collective name for every act of buying and selling we participate in. It governs our economy and our lives, determining our values, our goals, and our accomplishments. We make it—and are made by it. In Is the American Dream Killing You? Paul Stiles shows how the pressures of the market are causing undue stress in all our lives. He explains why there is so little trust in companies, why it seems harder to feel secure, and why we never seem to be able to rest anymore. In this stunningly well-researched and elegantly argued book, Stiles shows that the harried, anxious lives we lead have one common pressure—the market. Cover Image 1 Title Page 3 Dedication Page 4 Epigraph Page 5 Contents 7 Prologue: The Sound of the Alarm 11 Introduction: The Economic Beast 23 Chapter One: Burnout 39 Chapter Two: Meltdown 65 Chapter Three: The Bubble 91 Chapter Four: Flatland 115 Chapter Five: Jolts Per Minute 133 Chapter Six: Borrowed Time 151 Chapter Seven: The Ozone Hole 183 Chapter Eight: The Modern God 217 Chapter Nine: The Market Curve 249 Epilogue: The Market Cross 261 Appendix A: The American Hypermarket, 1950– 2000 273 Appendix B: Society in the Balance 275 Appendix C: A Market Lexicon 277 Appendix D: Market Metaphysics 281 Notes 283 List of Illustrations 293 Acknowledgments 297 Index 299 About the Author 316 Credits 317 Copyright Notice 318 About the Publisher 319 An impassioned argument about the pervasive consequences of an unrestrained free market on the mental, physical, and spiritual health of everyday people explains how market-driven aspects of society may be negatively influencing virtually every element of American life. 25,000 first printing. Presents an argument about the pervasive consequences of an unrestrained free market, explaining how the market-driven aspects of society may be negatively influencing the mental, physical, and spiritual health of everyday people. For over a decade now the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the Harvard School of Public Health have engaged in a landmark study of disease throughout the world involving over a hundred researchers.